pacevsPikeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pace” and “Pike” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,216
“pace” frequency rank
#32,209
“Pike” frequency rank
65425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pace Pike
Definition der Frieden, der Friede eine Stangenwaffe von Fußsoldaten

Where the eye mixes pace and Pike

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pace and Pike follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
pace
4 ch
Pike

Look-alike desk: pace vs Pike

A purely visual mix-up. pace ([ˈpaːt͡ʃe]) and Pike ([ˈpiːkə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pace is recorded at frequency rank #33,216, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaːt͡ʃe]. Pike is at rank #32,209, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpiːkə].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 65425, this pair ranks #607,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pace vs Pike

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pace": ac. Private to "Pike": ik.

"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Pike" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pace ← apce · pacce · paec · pcae · ppace
  • Pike ← ipke · piek · pikke · pkie · ppike

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pace" and "Pike" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaːt͡ʃe] versus [ˈpiːkə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pace" or "Pike"?
"Pike" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,209 in our German list, against #33,216 for "pace". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pace" and "Pike" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Pike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #607,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pace" and "Pike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pace vs Pau". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #607,365 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list